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            <h2 class="title"><a id="intro"></a>Chapter 1.  Introduction </h2>
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          <b>Table of Contents</b>
        </p>
        <dl>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro.html#intro_data">An introduction to data
        management</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_terrain.html">Mapping the terrain: theory and
        practice</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dd>
            <dl>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_terrain.html#idm140526458130608">Data access and data management</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_terrain.html#idm140526460696192">Relational databases</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_terrain.html#idm140526460349824">Object-oriented databases</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_terrain.html#idm140526460869552">Network databases</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_terrain.html#idm140526460885136">Clients and servers</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
            </dl>
          </dd>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_dbis.html">What is Berkeley DB?</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dd>
            <dl>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbis.html#idm140526460982288">Data Access Services</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbis.html#idm140526460880096">Data management services</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbis.html#idm140526460973760">Design</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
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          </dd>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_dbisnot.html">What Berkeley DB is not</a>
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              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbisnot.html#idm140526461042080">Berkeley DB is not a relational database</a>
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              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbisnot.html#idm140526461145408">Berkeley DB is not an object-oriented database</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbisnot.html#idm140526461156096">Berkeley DB is not a network database</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_dbisnot.html#idm140526461290752">Berkeley DB is not a database server</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
            </dl>
          </dd>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_need.html">Do you need Berkeley DB?</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_what.html">What other services does Berkeley DB provide?</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_distrib.html">What does the Berkeley DB
        distribution include?</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_where.html">Where does Berkeley DB run?</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dt>
            <span class="sect1">
              <a href="intro_products.html">The Berkeley DB products</a>
            </span>
          </dt>
          <dd>
            <dl>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_products.html#idm140526461443776">Berkeley DB Data Store</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_products.html#idm140526462388112">Berkeley DB Concurrent Data Store</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_products.html#idm140526462415088">Berkeley DB Transactional Data Store</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
              <dt>
                <span class="sect2">
                  <a href="intro_products.html#idm140526462416208">Berkeley DB High Availability</a>
                </span>
              </dt>
            </dl>
          </dd>
        </dl>
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      <div class="sect1" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
        <div class="titlepage">
          <div>
            <div>
              <h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="intro_data"></a>An introduction to data
        management</h2>
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        <p>
        Cheap, powerful computing and networking have created
        countless new applications that could not have existed a
        decade ago. The advent of the World-Wide Web, and its
        influence in driving the Internet into homes and businesses,
        is one obvious example. Equally important, though, is the
        shift from large, general-purpose desktop and server computers
        toward smaller, special-purpose devices with built-in
        processing and communications services.
    </p>
        <p>
        As computer hardware has spread into virtually every corner
        of our lives, of course, software has followed. Software
        developers today are building applications not just for
        conventional desktop and server environments, but also for
        handheld computers, home appliances, networking hardware, cars
        and trucks, factory floor automation systems, cellphones, and
        more.
    </p>
        <p>
        While these operating environments are diverse, the problems
        that software engineers must solve in them are often
        strikingly similar. Most systems must deal with the outside
        world, whether that means communicating with users or
        controlling machinery. As a result, most need some sort of I/O
        system. Even a simple, single-function system generally needs
        to handle multiple tasks, and so needs some kind of operating
        system to schedule and manage control threads. Also, many
        computer systems must store and retrieve data to track
        history, record configuration settings, or manage
        access.
    </p>
        <p>
        Data management can be very simple. In some cases, just
        recording configuration in a flat text file is enough. More
        often, though, programs need to store and search a large
        amount of data, or structurally complex data. Database
        management systems are tools that programmers can use to do
        this work quickly and efficiently using off-the-shelf
        software.
    </p>
        <p>
        Of course, database management systems have been around for
        a long time. Data storage is a problem dating back to the
        earliest days of computing. Software developers can choose
        from hundreds of good, commercially-available database
        systems. The problem is selecting the one that best solves the
        problems that their applications face.
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